Minus Michael Bay, it could have been a great Sci-Fi flick!

Rating: 6/10 (3 October 2008)

If Michael Bay had not directed this movie, probably, it had the potential to stand out as one of the best films on moral and scientific issues related to cloning and stem cell research that were raging around the time the film was made. Instead, what you get out of it is a lot of clanging metal, flying bullets and choppers that completely knock off the subtlety aspect that the subject was meant to portray and sensitivity involved.
Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) is among the few survivors of a global contamination who now live in a controlled environment with their diet, clothing and activity following a strict plan. The only thing that all residents there wish for is to win the lottery and go to ‘The Island’, said to be the last inhabitable place on earth. In what appears as utopia, Lincoln finds a live bug that leads him to question the oft told contamination theory.
Obviously, our hero needs a girl and who can get better than the young favorite Scarlett Johansson who plays Jordan Two Delta who has just won a lottery to the island. Just before she is whisked away to the purported island, Lincoln grabs her and flees. The outside world was just the trigger that Bay needed to add the unnecessary clang to the whole story, making the rest of the story a predictable second grade action film.
Despite starring Sean Bean one of the most effective villains who plays Dr. Merrick, the brain behind Merrick Laboratories that owns the facility, the film rarely delves into issues that actually strike the moral chord on cloning. The reference by henchman Albert Laurent (Djimon Hounsou) on the African genocide and his qualms about killing agnates despite him being a baddie was a mere touch and go on the humane aspects.
Despites all its flaws, it makes quite a decent watch if shown on Television anytime. At the very least, the idea of such a facility for cloning is in itself a worthy concept however but marred by mindless action. From the star cast, McGregor still doesn’t seem in the role and Scarlett could probably have been given a bigger role than being a blonde eye candy. A wee bit of sensitivity and sensibility could have made the film memorable!